Instagram EOY Features 2026: New Fonts, Easter Eggs & AI Restyle

What is Instagram’s EOY drop, exactly?

Every December, Instagram leans into the natural “End of Year recap” moment: people share photo dumps, “Top 9”, highlight Reels and New Year resolutions.

For 2025 → 2026, Instagram has packaged this into a clear EOY push:

“EOY is a unique opportunity to connect with your community! To celebrate 2025 and ring in the new year with us, we encourage you to engage your audience with these limited edition features and be part of the moment.”

These features are time-limited (roughly mid-December to early January) and designed to:

• Make your content look more “New Year” without heavy editing skill
• Reward people who participate with fun Easter eggs
• Encourage reflection, celebration and community participation (not just passive watching)

Let’s break down each feature and why it matters.

1. EOY typeface: New Year font & text effect

Instagram is rolling out a limited New Year typeface and text effect you can use in:

• Stories
• Reels
• Edits (Instagram’s in-app editing environment)

Think: a purple / glittery, party-adjacent font plus effects like countdown-style type to make your EOY posts feel instantly on-theme.

Why it’s useful for creators

• Fast way to make “this is year-end content” visually obvious
• Helps your Stories and Reels feel in sync with the platform-wide New Year aesthetic
• Great for:
  • Year-in-review slides
  • “2025 recap” carousels
  • “2026 intentions” or goal-setting content
  • Announcing launches, drops or events tied to the new year

Quick idea:
Use the EOY font to create a Story series:

1. “2025 in 5 slides”
2. “What’s coming in 2026”
3. CTA: “Reply ‘PLAN’ if you want to see how I’m planning my year”

Then let Inrō handle all the DMs with PLAN, send your planning resource, and tag those contacts for future productivity/offer content.

2. Easter eggs in Notes & Story comments

From late December into the New Year window, Instagram hides Easter eggs behind specific phrases and emojis:

• Typing certain New Year themed phrases (e.g. “Happy New Year”, “cheers”) or emojis in Story comments can trigger glitter or celebratory effects.
• Using similar phrases (like “Cheers”, “hnye!” or a firework emoji) in Notes can unlock special celebratory note themes.

It’s playful, a bit hidden, and it pushes people to say more than just “❤️”.

Why it’s useful for creators

• Encourages more comments and reactions on Stories (which are strong engagement signals).
• Gives you an excuse to ask for specific replies:
  • “Comment ‘cheers’ on this Story to unlock a surprise.”
  • “Drop ‘🎆’ in my Notes and see what happens.”
• Turns year-end content into a two-way interaction, not just a dump of photos.

Pair this with DM funnels:

• “Comment ‘cheers’ on my Story to unlock the effect AND DM me ‘CHECKLIST’ if you want my free 2026 planning checklist.”
• Inrō automatically replies to CHECKLIST, delivers the resource, and tags that follower as high-intent.

3. Edits seasonal pack: fonts & sound FX

Instagram’s Edits tool is getting a seasonal pack for EOY:

• A curated set of festive fonts
• Sound FX and other creative tools aimed at New Year / celebration content.

This pack lives inside Edits and is meant to make your videos feel more cinematic and on-theme without going to a separate editing app.

How to use it

• Build year-in-review Reels with on-beat sound FX transitions
• Create “2025 highlights” montage Reels with celebratory sounds and title cards
• Use Edits seasonal pack as a base, then overlay your usual branding (colors, emojis, overlays) so it still feels like you

For creators who don’t have time for After Effects-level editing, this is a shortcut to “this looks like a thought-out campaign”.

4. Limited-time EOY “Add Yours” sticker

Instagram is also rolling out EOY-branded “Add Yours” stickers:

• From around Dec 16 to Jan 2, certain New Year themed “Add Yours” prompts unlock a special color palette/design on the sticker.

Example prompts (based on Instagram and publisher breakdowns):

• “My 2025 highlight”
• “2025 in one photo”
• “What I’m manifesting for 2026”

Why it’s important

• “Add Yours” is one of the best UGC engines on Instagram Stories.
• EOY designs make it visually clear that this is part of the New Year conversation.
• Fans who participate create more Stories that tag you, sending DMs, profile visits and new follows your way.

Layer Inrō on top:

• In your Story with the Add Yours sticker, add text:

“Post your 2025 highlight with this sticker & then DM me ‘HIGHLIGHT’—I’ll send you a mini breakdown of how to turn that into a 2026 goal.”

• Inrō responds automatically to HIGHLIGHT, asks a couple of qualifying questions, and saves that contact as someone who cares about planning / coaching / your niche.

5. AI Restyle presets for year-end highlights

Finally, Instagram is leaning heavily into AI Restyle, its generative styling tool for Stories and Edits:

• For EOY, they’ve released festive, celebratory and reflective Restyle presets that you can apply to year-end photos and videos.
• Earlier in December, Instagram rolled out “Restyle New Year’s effects” to help people replay and relive their 2025 highlights in new visual styles.

Think: your 2025 highlight reel, but turned into:

• Glittery film montage
• Dreamy reflective slideshow
• Bold, neon, party edit

What this means for creators

• Easy way to package “2025 recap” Stories that feel elevated
• Lets you differentiate between moods:
  • Celebratory Restyle for wins
  • Reflective Restyle for lessons learned
• Great storytelling backbone for:
  • “What I learned in 2025 as a [creator/coach/brand]”
  • “Behind the scenes of my biggest launch this year”

At the end of these sequences, always include a clear CTA into DMs:

“If you want me to help you design your 2026 plan, DM me ‘2026’ and I’ll send you something special.”

Inrō can:

• Auto-respond with a lead magnet or booking link
• Tag these as high-intent (EOY-2026-PLANNING)
• Add them to future DM campaigns when you open enrolments or launch offers.

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